Why can't they see our electricity system is based on a fantasy?

It must be glaringly obvious to even the least technical of our politicians that cold, dull calm weather is the ultimate challenge to the renewables fantasy.

Today (November 18) Scotland is exporting 28 MW (just 2% of the capacity of Torness which is running flat out but will be shutdown by 2030), UK wind and solar is generating 8% of our needs whilst gas and nuclear are having to provide circa 64% of our demand.

In addition we are importing 14.32% of our needs from Europe.

In the past year UK has imported circa 30TWh and exported circa 8TWh of electricity so we have become a huge importer of electricity.

What do our politicos not grasp?

DB Watson, Cumbernauld.

Let's go back to the 1970s

WITH power cuts possible on calm winter days, now is surely the time to repeat the "Switch Off Something" (SOS) government advertising programme of 1973/4.

Much domestic electricity, particularly lighting, is consumed unnecessarily. If we each saved some power, we might get through winter without compulsory cuts.

Malcolm Parkin, Kinross.

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We should change to 24/6

MUCH has been said in the last few days about Tesco opening its store in Stornoway on Sundays ("I’m with the Free Presbyterians: say no to Sunday opening", The Herald, November 14). Another topic that is always in the news is the climate emergency. The answer to the climate emergency in the UK seems to be to cover much of the countryside with wind and solar farms. To be "green" you have to actually destroy the UK’s remaining green and blue environments, except for the National Parks. It is the opposite of conservation. Our rural and island areas, and our seas, are handed over by the Government to multinational energy companies to exploitatively extract our natural resources (as happened in the past with our overseas colonies).

The Isle of Lewis, where the above Tesco store is located, is one of the areas being handed over for this green exploitation. It used to be famous for shutting down on Sundays and having a day of rest. If plans go ahead, it will soon be famous for having the tallest structures in the UK, with wind turbines of up to 380m in height proposed by Canadian company Northland Power and Irish company ESB.

Instead of looking at Sunday observance as an anachronism, surely in these days of climate emergency it is something we should all be learning from. Instead of living a 24/7 lifestyle of endless consumption of the Earth’s resources, let us all change to 24/6 and give ourselves and our planet a day of rest. The answer to the climate emergency must be to limit consumption, not destroy more and more of our precious and fast-diminishing natural environment.

Catriona Campbell, North Bragar, Isle of Lewis.

• THIS past Sunday, the Tesco in Stornoway opened despite a small group of religious traditionalists protesting that a Sabbath shopping trip was “a sin, damaging to a person's soul” and of course a distraction from attending their church.

While a weekly quiet day is a defendable personal choice, unless you lived next to the Tesco car park how could someone else’s different behaviour affect you in any way?

Religious belief surely does not entitle you to tell others when to buy their groceries.

Neil Barber, Edinburgh Secular Society.

Junior, meet the juniors

KEVIN McKenna ("Why wouldn’t you live in Cumnock? It’s the cheapest place to buy a house in Scotland", mentions "the greatest ever match report… a despatch from a war-zone”.

May I inform the good Mr McKenna that the action on the pitch was nothing compared to the activities which took place elsewhere, during and thereafter. The Junior Cup Final of 1972 between Irvine Meadow and Cambuslang Rangers was a tense affair, being the second replay after the first two matches ended in draws. Irvine Meadow finally succeeded in lifting the trophy by narrowly beating their opponents 1-0. The result of the match was revealed as I overheard a conversation between the ambulancemen delivering me to Irvine Central Hospital. And, of course, I totally understood that the result took priority over the gas and air cylinder remaining in the ambulance while I, in the latter stages of labour, was deposited on the ground.

Meanwhile, back to the match: the on-field exertions were minimal compared to what was happening on the sidelines. The stress of repeated finals proved too much for one of the Irvine ladies who gave birth to a fine son on the day. Having returned from Irvine Central to the maternity home, I was situated in the bed opposite the exultant mum; she had delivered a future star and Dad had brought home the trophy.

Come "lights out" bottles were produced. Vodka and NHS orange juice was the order of the evening and into the wee hours, the clinking of glasses resounded around the ward. Nappy-changing at 2am was a triumph of manual dexterity, one hand for the infant and the other for the glass. Mentioned in despatches was the fact that the babies appeared remarkably unaffected by the celebrations, peaceful and content in their mothers’ arms; yet another victory for the breast-feeding brigade. The only cards in evidence were of the "New Arrival" variety.

A memorable occasion, I sometimes wonder if the little fella followed in his father’s footsteps, onto the pitch and into the “brutal world of Ayrshire junior football”.

Maureen McGarry-O’Hanlon, Jamestown.

Stornoway has been at the centre of a row over Tesco opening on Sundays (Image: Colin Mearns)

The beautiful game? Hardly

A RED card, a contentious penalty, sarcastic applause of the referee, a hullabaloo, a sense of grievance. Were these words extracted from a report of a rumbustious Old Firm derby match of yesteryear?

No, they are taken from your report of a ladies' (sorry, women's) football match played in Hamilton on Sunday.

The fairer sex?

David Miller, Milngavie.